Google to ban ads related to cryptocurrency

Crypto enthusiasts look away, Google is going to ban cryptocurrency and its related advertisements soon. The announcement was made regarding a change in the company’s policy regarding risky financial products. The policy will become effective in June this year after which firms will no longer be able to use Google to advertise their cryptocurrency or ICOs.

The news is yet another blow to the cryptocurrency market which has seen better days. The main appeal of cryptocurrency is its decentralization. However, lack of any regulation resulted in many currencies inflating in price at an alarming rate. This rapid surging of prices peaked in December 2017 when Bitcoin almost hit $20,000 and altcoins were hitting all-time highs as well. However, that was when governments started intervening.

South Korea took the first step in regulating cryptocurrency and it threatened to ban crypto trading altogether within the country. Soon after, other countries also started imposing regulations against the crypto market due to its inflating price and different illegal activities taking place through cryptocurrency. The market has since fallen rapidly after different attempts to regulate the market. Therefore, those attempts have been somewhat successful as the crypto market is in a bad state currently.

What comes as a surprise is Google’s decision to ban cryptocurrency related ads. If you search anything on google related to cryptocurrency, the first ad that pops up is usually about buying crypto tokens. However, this won’t be the case any more come June.

According to Google, there seems to be no bad blood with cryptocurrency. The new policy will be applied to all “risky financial products”, therefore the ban hasn’t been put in place with crypto specifically in mind. However, the crypto market will suffer the most, including firms.

According to the new policy, promoting anything related to cryptocurrency is no longer allowed. This means that ads promoting ICOs will also be banned. Initial Coin Offerings help new firms get funding for their project. They issue their own cryptocurrency tokens in exchange for some other cryptocurrency (most commonly Ethereum). Most people get to know about these different ICOs through ads and given that Google is one of the most frequently visited sites, firms will definitely suffer.

Not only do ICO ads help firms get investors, but it also attracts people to the firm and the idea its presenting, which in turn gets more followers. A good advertising scheme can go a long way in helping a company have a good ICO which helps in laying the foundation for a successful future. Thus, many newer firms will definitely be hurt by the new changes.

Misuse of crypto

Many governments, including China, are regulating cryptocurrency due to the activities cryptocurrency holders take part in. Cryptocurrency is at the centre of activities such as money laundering which countries are trying to crack down on. Removing ads on the largest search engine in the world will definitely help this cause and it makes sense.

Google’s new policy mirrors Facebook as the social media giant recently banned crypto adverts too. Facebook had also banned crypto-related ads due to cryptocurrency scams increasing in number, ads play a big role in those scams. Google, in fact, took down more than 3 billion ads already because of policy violation. According to a spokesperson from Google, they will also make sure no one is able to publish ads using workarounds such as putting a ‘0’ instead of an ‘o’ in ‘bitcoin’.

Although Google’s latest policy comes as bad news for the crypto market, it’s a move that will benefit everyone in the long run. It will help drive out the scammers and the people who use cryptocurrency for things crypto wasn’t meant for. Google is working hard to ensure the best ad experience online for everyone, and the latest policy change is reflective of that.

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